Bloomberg’s Anthony Lee Pacchia interviewed Bill Black on the meaning and ramifications, and sent me the following summary and clip:

Manhattan DA Cy Vance given us a rarity in filing *criminal* charges against Abacus Bank and 19 former employees for mortgage fraud. The papers say the bank originated liar loans, a common practice for most banks. But according to guest Professor William K. Black, don’t expect this case to lead to more prosecutions of large banks despite overwhelming evidence of rampant fraud amongst the big banks in mortgage origination. A couple of his points:

-state and federal authorities don’t have anywhere near the manpower or resources to actually prosecute big banks for fraud.